Toys 4 Tots

Amongst all the holiday shoppers out Monday night were members of the Bangor Fire Department.They were picking out toys for tots. A cause they raise money for each year.This year, they had $2,000 in donations to spend on area kids.Photojournalist Tom Round went along for their shopping trip at the Brewer Walmart…”Every year we take some donated money from our Union, Firefighters Union. And we donate it to the Toys for Tots.””Oh! Every kid wants to be a fireman.””It’s a lot of fun, we spend about two thousand dollars a year, and raise that money. And then turn around and donate the money, and come and buy the toys, and actually give the to the Toys for Tots program.””I think I’m close.””That should do.””If you look around you’ll see that many of the firefighters have brought their families, and the kids really enjoy picking out the toys for other kids. And we explain to them what we’re doing. And it’s just a nice Christmas atmosphere.””Picking out the toys I just thought were best for kids. Lotta Star Wars stuff, bikes, stuff like that.””That’s 5.””That’s 5. So that’s, like, 44 dollars we’re at.””We receive a lot of donations from LTS and from our different fundraiser. We try and spread it out as evenly as we can, and there’s a lot of kids in this neighborhood that really don’t have what they need at the Christmas season. So it’s an easy way to give back a little bit.””I want to be a fireman when I grow up.””You do! Okay.””I think their gonna feel great. A lot of times their parents can’t pay for that kind of stuff, so I think their gonna be pretty happy.”